(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)
Percy Sledge - "When a Man Loves a Woman"
Hit Number 1: May 28, 1966
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
This is likely not the version most of you are familiar with. Most of you probably are more familiar with Michael Bolton's version, the guy who always covered everyone else's hits. I can't think of one song that guy recorded that was his OWN material. But ironically enough, Bolton's cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" hit #1 in the 1990s, so that version will appear in here eventually, and I won't say anything more about it. But in 1966, the original version was a #1 hit, and it was by soul singer Percy Sledge. For right now, pretend like Bolton's version never existed.
The song's organ riff came out of nowhere one night, when Sledge's band was getting ready to play at a Friday night dance. Andrew Wright, the organ player, was messing around on the organ and came up with the riff. Wright told Calvin Lewis, another member of the band, to go home and write some words for the song. The next day the two rehearsed the song with Sledge, and it wasn't long after that, that the band began auditioning the potential record for local businessmen and a radio DJ named Quin Ivy. Ivy liked the song, but had suggested that some of the words be changed to give a more "positive message". Sledge was not given a songwriting credit, but says that he should've, because the song had to do with his own broken relationship, and he helped contribute to it.
At first, the song starts out as the kinds of things a lot of guys would do if they were in love with a woman. They would do things like give up their best friends if they put his girl down, sleep out in the rain if the girl says that's "how it ought to be", and basically put the girl on a throne and do anything to make her happy. But at the end, it takes a whole new direction. In the last verse, the girl is supposedly cheating on the guy, and "playing him for a fool". He's the last one to know about this, and it brings him misery. It's a very well-written song, and I can see why Sledge would be angry about never getting a songwriting credit, if what he said is true, and this story was based on his own experience.
Sledge is also very convincing in his tone as he sings. He sounds like a guy who means what he is singing, and pours every last drop of emotion into the song. He's what MAKES the song work. Sure, the song is very well thought out, and the words are pretty true. But the instrumentation is only there to surround Sledge's voice, and he's at the center stage of everything that's going on here. He's not holding anything back, and sings his heart out. It's a great vocal performance. Though they aren't the main focus, the instruments are pretty solid, with meandering organs throughout and wailing horns at the end of the song. It's a slow steady stroll of a song, never in too big a hurry to get anywhere, but it's not supposed to. Let the man tell his story!
Bolton's version seems to have overshadowed Sledge's a little bit, but we can't forget about Sledge's version. It's a strong song, with a lot behind it, and Sledge's vocal performance is top notch. He never hit #1 again, but he would continue to perform for the rest of his life before dying of liver cancer in 2015.
GRADE: 9/10
JUST MISSED:
The Mindbenders' (who brought us "Game of Love") almost hit #1 a second time with "A Groovy Kind of Love" (a song that will appear in this blog by someone else). It peaked at #2 behind "When a Man Loves a Woman", and their version is an 8.
SONG REFERENCED:
"Game of Love" - Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
https://rmparis12.wixsite.com/website/post/the-hit-hammer-wayne-fontana-the-mindbenders-game-of-love
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
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